Warlock
by SamanthaRose
Summary: Follows the vision quest of Constanse Al'varay as she discovers what it means to be a warlock...
1. What it means

Authors Note: Forgive me in advance for the TERRIBLE shape this story is in, unfortunatly, the spacing in my stories is butchered by I can give you a link to another site that makes the spacing the way it should be, just email me and I'll hook you up! . Thankies! End Author's Note

Can't find the rhyme in all my reason

"Why this?"'

His mother's pleading words made his heart ache, but he couldn't listen. He couldn't turn away now.

Now, he had something to prove.

"Mother, he chose the path of the priest! He chose a weak path, and now is my chance to prove that I am the stronger man!"

She stared at him then... stared at him in horror... she stared with hatred burning in her eyes.

He hated the way they stared now.

"He can't heal them all." The words escaped him even as the shadow magic formed in his hands...

I've lost sense of time and all seasons

Eyes flying open and a horrid gasp escaping the pale column of her throat, she sat up, a flurry of long, pale limbs and flowing silken hair.

She didn't know where she was or how she had come to be there. She wasn't sure what she was doing, lying in a tomb.

Last she remembered, she had taken a necklace from a woman...

A young woman...

Surena...

He had said her name was Surena.

A rasping growl from beside her made her turn.  
A voidwalker, looming over her.

She crouched before it, naked, for a moment, then stood, her blonde hair falling around her shoulders.

Her blue eyes narrowed slowly, and the Voidwalker bowed it's head.

"Long time you have been sssleeping, missstresss. Long time you have ssslept. Long time till you woke. Where will we go now, my missstresss?"

"Where are we."

"Ssstormwind."

"Away from here. There is much to be done."

I feel I've been beaten down By the words of men who have no grounds.

The bodies had continued once again to crowd the tables and floor, most of the nurses long since retired for the night.

A few remained among the horror of the plague ravaged town, moved throughout the room, removing personal items for return to family members.

One woman sifted through the contents of a pouch, belonging to a fallen man rumored to be a warlock.

Indeed...

She discovered several small, blood colored stones in the pouch, shuddering as she gathered them. Soul shards.  
The souls of living beings, trapped within these small stones.

Disgusted, she put the pouch aside and leaned over the body, reaching to remove the weapon the man still wore when he fell.

It happened so suddenly...

His grip was terrible and firm as his hand closed over her face, squeezing hard. She tried to make a sound...

The man sat up slowly, his grip never loosening, and the woman's voice rose in a cry of alarm.

"No escape." The man rasped, opening his glowing, dead eyes. "No escape for the living!"

Waves of shadow magic flowed from him and into her, wave after wave after wave... She felt the sinking cold of the abyss reaching up to claim her, a strangled cry escping her once more. Her body jerked...

Fire followed shadow, burning away clothes, hair and flesh, but the screams that echoed from her continued long after it was done...

Can't sleep beneath the trees of wisdom For your axe has cut the roots that feed them

"It is unnatural." The druid's words only served to agitate him further. So he continued further into the cave, his voidwalker sliding silently up behind him. "It doesn't really obey you. It is only using you. It is unnatural."

Turning sharply, he glared at the druid, and she met his stare with one of equal discontent.

"You don't know anything about us." He growled.

"Untrue. I know more about you than you do. That is why that path was not the one I chose."

He spat at the Druid's feet, and her cheeks colored.

"Go." He commanded in low tones, to the demon. "Give her back to the dreams she so feverishly follows."

The druid's eyes widened, but it was too late.

Wickedly curved claws tore through delicate purple flesh, and the druid fell with a gurgling cry.

A sick smile lit up the face of the warlock.

"Foolish dreamers." He hissed kicking the body. "Can't you see that I am the one in control?"

"Are you?" A soft voice, not oft heard, hissed from behind him, and all his world became...

...blood and shadow...

Forked tongues in bitter mouths...

The rain poured down, quelling the fire inside him and slowly putting out the flames that ate away at the town.

The whip rose and fell with terrifying accuracy, each blow making the gnome's knees buckle a little more.

In an endless drone, the commanding figure of the Druid nearby read over and over the list of crimes commited.

"...unleashing an Infernal on... "

"No, it wasn't me! That came from Felfire hill!"

"... For the deaths of countless innocents by the hands of your shadow and fire..."

"No! No! You don't understand!"

Again and again, the whip fell.

"Foul crimes, all of them. You, little creature, have been consumed by the power bestowed upon you by the Legion."

"Nooooooo!"

Can drive a man to bleed from inside out...

"I promise, it's totally safe!" The lulling voice of the young woman, the soft curve of her blood red lips, her slanted green eyes and soft dark hair all helped to pull in the four unsuspecting young warriors. "I just need a little more help summoning it than it would take to summon say... my succubus. It will help us on this quest!"

The warriors' hesitation dulled away, and the woman smiled wickedly behind their backs as they all began to prepare for the ritual.

The Ritual of Doom...

"Yes, that's it." She muttered so only she could hear. "Completely safe."

They all thought so...

And the ritual progressed without mishap, that is... until the blood began to fountain from the vertically slashed throat and chest of one of the warriors. With a gurgle of shock, he fell to the ground, trembling violently.

The other warriors backed away, but the warlock simply smiled.

"That's right... one thing I forgot to point out." She said in silky tones. "It demands a sacrifice."

The warrior thrashed and began to scream past the blood that poured from his mouth.

"Don't worry... it will all be over soon."

What if you did? What if you lied? 


	2. What I must do

What if I avenge? What if eye for an eye?  
I've seen the wicked fruit of your vine Destroy a man who lacks a strong mind...

Her screams echoed... her screams were frightfully loud in the eternal dark that blanketed the Cleft of Shadow.

There were few about the Cleft this eve... only those who sought to quell the screams, and the screamer herself.

She screamed in the tongue of the demons, her flesh scarred by fire and shadow magic. She screamed, and demons screamed around her.

It was all they could do to hold her down.

"Keep her still!" The one on the right hissed in hushed tones. "Keep her limbs down"  
"I'm trying!" The second, near her head growled in return.

Their voices were hushed. They didn't want to alert Neeru Fireblade anymore than he already would be.

"Inside.. from the inside... from the inside, the inside... from the inside, burning..." The female orc panted, still thrashing about madly. Her voice echoed with something sinister, something she had tried to shed, tried to flee.  
And failed.

This was what happened to those who ran from the legion.

"Inside, from the inside, burning from the inside. We are burning from the inside, from the inside, burning from the inside. We are burning..." She thrashed more wildly, and a shadow fell over the three.

The one on the right looked up in terror.

"Neeru." He whispered. "She... she came out of the Chasm... we tried to stop her! Her screams..."

The female orc was silent for a moment, then a shriek of horror escaped her, her eyes wide, white and blank... wild.

"Nooooo! Burning! BURNING! We are burning from the inside! Orgrimmar is burning from the inside. Orgrimmar will fall! Orgrimmar is burning! ORGRIMMAR IS BURNIN-"

Her scream cut short as her head was cleanly separated from her body. A bellow of rage escaped Neeru's throat, and he turned quickly, the sword he held slamming through the chest of the Orc who had held her head. Neeru's blade ate through flesh and bone, cutting cleanly through... cleaving the third in half before the second could finish falling.

His bellows faded, and he took deep breaths to calm himself.

"Fool." He growled.

"You cannot hope to desert us."

Human pride sings a vengeful song.

"Do it." The voice was harsh, little more than a growl. The girl sobbed hoarsely, shaking her head. Her red hair hung in dank ringlets, filthy, reaching her chin and no further. She sobbed in protest, but her master lashed out again, striking her across the face.

"I SAID DO IT!" He howled, and she begrudgingly obeyed, too weak to fight anymore.

Her body flickered fire... fire chased itself through her hair and flew from her fingertips. It burned her skin but felt as though it were part of her. The fire quickly leapt forward, eating the straw at the base of the house away with hunger. Everything here, everything in these plains was dry. The building caught fire easily.

"Summon them." Her master demanded. Again, she tried to protest... again, he persuaded her with a well placed fist. "Summon the Succubus! Summon the Voidwalker! Summon the Imp! Summon them all!"

"Master, I cannot control more than one!"

"No need to control them... they hunger for the flesh of humans! Release them! Release the demons!"

She wanted to disobey... she wanted to say no, she wanted to run, to escape...

But again and again, he would find her. Again and again, the demons would guide her back to him.

There was no hope to escape now.

Inspired by the times you've been walked on.

The corner of the tiny building was like home to him now. The bodies had long sinced stopped moving, stopped breathing... they had long since started stinking... but still, he couldn't move if he wanted to.

The shadows were like shackles. Slowly, he was becoming a hollow version of himself.

Rocking... rocking...

The blood had long stopped flowing. His eyes had stopped seeing color days ago. His fingertips no longer felt, and as he watched, his flesh had long since begun to rot away.

His joints were exposed, his hands deformed into claws, shadows of their former selves.

Even as his body rotted away, his mind stayed sharp. It helped him see them...

They wouldn't leave him.

They were all around him.

The whispers of the demons were so different, though, than the ones of the people who's bodies lay rotting here. They had taunted him. They had called him weak. They had told him he was a waste of air.

He didn't agree.

He proved to them, proved to them that he was not weak. He was far from it.

He killed them all to prove it. Now, in this undeath, the demons by his side...

He was invincible.

My stage is shared by many millions Who lift their hands up high because they feel this

She didn't know there were so many of them... she didn't know that things like this existed.  
She was sure not all of them were like her... still fresh, still untouched by the taint of the shadows. But they were all like her in a way. All of them here.  
All of them were the same. Brothers, sisters... friends. They were warlocks.

"Let this meeting come to order!" The one at the front yelled, his voice commanding, yet soothing all at once. "We have much to discuss. There is much rooting out to be done. We must find the ones who have fallen and make sure they make their way back to us. Back to where we are." She remembered this man's words well.

He kept telling her that no matter what... she had to remember who she was. She had to remember that the demons couldn't hurt her so long as she didn't let them. She had to believe that she was in control, but not give into the arrogance that most Warlocks fell to. She saw this man like a brother, like a father almost... she loved him.

"We must make sure that the foul taint that has fallen on our numbers is washed away and that the rumors of the Evil Warlocks are halted. We are not evil... we may have chosen this path, but it was NOT because we wanted to use our powers for evil. Not all of us, at least." He sighed gently and gazed around at the empty chairs. Others in the room fell silent and somber.

She hadn't known or met the fallen ones. She didn't know how many there had been or how many there were now.

"The stand is open for suggestions and stories... please, brother, sisters... help us find the others. We must band together! All of us know of the demon wind... we will use it to find the others!"

We are one, we are strong...

"They said that there were people trying to make you leave." She tried despretly to speak to him as he moved about the room in a fury, packing his things into his pack and blatantly ignoring her. "Please say something. Why are they trying to make you leave? They've never asked a priest to leave the Cathedral before!"

Her voice grated on him... he didn't want to listen anymore.

"Was it because you made the choice to embrace the shadow magic instead of the Light? Is that why? Because if it is, it's wrongful for them to ask you to do this! There is no need! Many have followed that path before!"

He tried to block out her words, closing his pack and slinging it over his shoulder.

"The elves have been whispering about you, too. They say Elune has even turned her back on you! Why? Why are they saying these things!"

She followed him out of the room, her hands clasped nervously in front of her. The diamond on her hand gleamed in the dull light filtering through the windows.

"Speak to me, please! Tell me what is going on! Don't leave me!"

"You could never hope to understand. " He said at last, turning to look at her. Her eyes widened. "You... it would take years to explain it to you in a way to make you understand. They asked me to leave... because that place is no place for someone like me."

"Someone like you. What do you mean?"

Why don't you just show her? He asked himself. No... no... he couldn't do that. Not here. Not in front of her.

"What did you do? Did you do something awful? Something you shouldn't have? I told you to be careful! I told you!"

"You did, over and over. Told me to be careful, told me what to do and what not to. Over and over and over again. And I'm tired of it. Just... go." He waved his hand at her dismissivily.

"NO! You can't just walk away from me like that! Come back here and explain!"

"I don't take orders from you anymore... Light tainted bitch. You wouldn't understand in a million years if I tried to explain it at all"  
He turned angry eyes to her and she startled. For a moment, she thought she saw fire in his eyes... fire... priests didn't weild fire.  
"Don't leave." She pleaded again.

"If I were to stay... then you and everyone there would fall into shadows and fire."

The more you hold us down, the more we press on...

What if you did? What if you lied?  
What if I avenge? What if eye for an eye?

The sound of weeping had drawn him from his light sleep, and being a warrior, he quickly donned his armor and set out to search for the source.

It was quiet near the guard tower tonight... quiet and still save for the weeping.

His footsteps were soft on the grass leading away from the tower, the pace of his heart quickening as he neared a figure crouched in the shadows near the base of a tree. She wept almost bitterly, slumped over so he couldn't really see her shape at all.

"Miss?" He called, his voice sounding slightly strained. He thought he saw something move in the shadows nearby, brushing it off as a forest animal.

She didn't look up, trembling in the darkness, her weeping slowly fading to silence.

Then, to his shock.  
She laughed.

Slowly, slowly, she stood, stretching up on her long legs, her hooved feet set apart for balance. A long, thin tail curved around one of her calves, horns rose from her head and she spread wings behind her. Another laugh escaped her, and she reached down to her hip, letting a whip uncoil.

"What in the-"

From behind him, came another laugh, followed by a strange, gutteral growl.

Then the whip lashed out, and his vision was red... he was blind!

Screaming, he tried to stumble away, falling backwards, head over heels, down a hill.

When he finally struggled onto his hands and knees, something hot lashed across his back. The laughter kept coming... the laughter wouldn't stop...

Both of them were laughing at him.

"That's enough." She spoke in soft tones to the Succubus, who lowered the whip slowly, pouting. She examined the body of the soldier with satisfaction, crouching on creaking bones to loot his pouch. There, she found what she had been looking for...

Snatching up the ring and the small locket from the contents of his pouch, she let out a long, hissing breath of relief.

"Yesss... now, let us go hooome." The man who had been her husband in her former life, before her life of undeath, lay a crumpled, bloodied figure on the ground. She was content to let him lay there and rot... after all, he had done as much to her before.

I know I can't hold my head inside my mind.  
Cause what consumes your thoughts, controls your life

Blue eyes opened slowly in the misty darkness of the Twilight grove. Water moved beneath her...

Her robes were soaked with it. The gentle hum of the portal nearby, the slow chirping of the crickets and the calls of the night birds... none of that had been what had woken her.

Her wet robes whispered against her skin as she slowly sat up, her cheek red from where it had rested on the rocky shelf surrounding the moonwell. Her crimson hair tumbled over her shoulders, and she reached down to her hip in instinct, finding both her wand and her sword were not there. They were nearby, with her pack.

Nothing to worry about...

She was alone here...

She couldn't beleive she had fallen asleep here.

But now she was awake, the the startling visions that had woken here...

It was all she needed.

Clearheaded and for once in her life, completely in control, Constanse Al'varay stepped out of the moonwell, dripping the enchanted water onto the ground. She stood for a moment, silent, looking around her. Her lips were parted, her breath soft, and her blue eyes held a fire of determination.

"That will not be me." She swore. "That will not be me."

Her first vision in a long, long time. She wasn't sure what had made her see those things...

But she was sure someone had done it for a reason.

A smile touched her lips and she threw her arms out, summoning Lazpit in a glow of purple light. The Imp looked up at her curiously.

Something was very different about his mistress' demeanor.

"You... you called, mistress?" He asked softly. Constanse smiled again and nodded, reaching down to him and catching him by the arm. She hauled him up into the air and stared at him, into his eyes as he dangled there in mid air, unmoving. Lazpit stared back, wide eyed...

There was no question about it. She was one of the rare few...

But from that moment, with that look in her eyes, he couldn't question it. Constanse Al'varay truly WAS in control of her demons.

"Let's go." She said softly, dropping him. He bounced along the ground, then flipped to his feet, scurrying after her as she started up the path, out of the Grove. 


End file.
